Less than 24 hours from now the Chandrayaan-2 Lander will land a probe on the lunar South Pole. All eyes will be on the final descent that will commence on September 7 at 1 am, which would be the most 'terrifying 15 minutes' of the lunar mission, as Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K Sivan likes to call it.
After some glitches, India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, GSLV MkIII-M1 successfully lifted off a million dreams on July 22 from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Research Centre, Sriharikota. After the injection of Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, A series of maneuvers were carried out to raise its orbit and put Chandrayaan-2 on Lunar Transfer Trajectory.
Before Chandrayaan-2 makes a historic landing on the moon, here are a few important facts to know:
1) Vikram and its 'Betal': The mission's lander is called 'Vikram' and the rover is called 'Pragyan'. On the day of landing, the lander will separate from the Orbiter to land on the South Pole of the moon.
3) Once Vikram descends to an altitude of about 400m, Vikram will hover for 12 seconds to capture images of the landing surface. To ensure that the touchdown is safe and soft, all fire engines aboard Vikram will be fired to reduce the velocity. The final 10m descent will be achieved in 25 seconds.
2) The Rover and the lander will roll out and carry out experiments on Lunar surface for a period of 1 Lunar day which is equal to 14 Earth days. The solar-powered rover can travel up to 500 meters and is expected to work for one lunar day, the equivalent of 14 Earth days.
3) The cost involved: India has spent about $144 million to get Chandrayaan-2 ready for the 384,400-km trip to the landing spot on the lunar South Pole on September 7.
4) A successful step on the moon would not just expand India's footprint in space but it will also make it the first country to reach the South Polar region of the moon in its first attempt, and the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon other than US, Russia, and China.
5) Chandrayaan-2 will do a 3-dimensional mapping of the lunar region. Measurements on the near surface environment and electron density in the layers of the moon, and the presence of water molecules will be studied.
6) The GSLV Mk-III that is carrying Chandrayaan 2 to its designated orbit, is a three-stage vehicle. It is India's most powerful launcher till date and is capable of launching 4-ton class of satellites to the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.
7) ISRO has selected eight scientific instruments for the orbiter, four for the lander, and two for the rover.
8) Initially, ISRO had signed an agreement with Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) in 2007 to work together on the lunar mission. ISRO was responsible for the orbiter and rover, while Roscosmos was supposed to provide the lander. But, Roscosmos later withdrew from the deal as it was unable to provide the lander by 2015. ISRO then decided to design the mission single-handedly.
9) For the first time in India's history, the space mission is led by two women scientists of ISRO. Scientist Vanitha Murhayya is the project director of the mission, and Ritu Karidhal is the mission director.
10) The lunar mission was first scheduled in 2013, which was later postponed to 2016 as Russia was unable to develop the lander on time. It was further scheduled to launch in 2018, as ISRO was still not confident to pull it off, the mission was further delayed to July 2019. On July 15, the rover experienced a technical snag and it was once again held over. The next date was fixed to July 22. It was finally launched from Sriharikota.
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